Comment by ZeroGravitas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ZeroGravitas | Hacker News Reader

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This just doesn't ring true to me, at all.

Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days", 'kids today', 'civilization is doomed' content aimed at young males? Or is that just a natural cycle that repeats throughout history?

The biggest film in history was "Birth of a Nation" until it was replaced by "Gone with the Wind", "Star Wars" may have been a rebellion against a vaguely Nazi empire, but it was still about hereditary rulers that are related to each other starting wars.

Overall, the trajectory seems fairly positive. The good old days were pretty crappy and that was reflected in their books, films and songs. Though I suppose if you're young enough that Mulan 1998 is a classic film from the good old days you might simply be ignorant of a lot of the crazy shit that went on.

Look up parents re-watching films from their youth with their children, to realise, horrified, what passed as entertainment in their youth that is now shocking to them and stuff they don't want their kids to emulate or look up to.

Nostalgia that is the most natural thing in the world is defined as 'fascist' now?

OP is replying to a video titled 'why modern movies suck'. So OP is not referring to nostalgia. It's more a reaction to 'old times wow, now sucks'.

If the video was titled 'Why I love these old films', then your reply makes sense.

I'm just replying to the notion of that the critique has a undertone of fascist feeling. The comment is somehow anchored in that any critique of modern movies is reactionary and does not have any merit of its own. What I'm trying to convey is that there is a difference between critique that is somewhat nostalgic and it would be different if the critique was ideological. I don't find much ideological bias in "the critical drinker" videos more of nostalgic bias.

He literally starts by saying that these modern films are creating "a generation of shit people" and as proof asks you to log into TikTok and flashes up a clip of a young woman.

Why is this person 'shit'? I have no idea. Why is this whole generation 'shit'? Especially compared with a slightly older male Youtuber talking about Mulan, which many impartial observers would place in broadly the same class of pointless internet celeb.

If I wanted to briefly indicate the problems of this (or any other) generation, I could think of better things to flash up than a girl talking on TikTok, but apparently this wholesome nostalgia for the movies of his youth requires him to do this and say those things. And you didn't even notice this?

I never claimed that it was 'wholesome' that is something you filled in. I'm pointing out that the your analysis is flawed that you are trying to pin ideological label on a "scottish alcoholic" and conflating that somehow the youtube algorithm is fueling a 'fascist feeling'. The truth is that all of these algorithm are maximising for engagement and the signal that it is latching onto here isn't fascism it is nostalgia. Is this persona being 'wholesome' and 'kind' in his speech? And the answer is no!

Fascism uses the nostalgic feeling specifically around national mythos and the character of its citizens but it is the nostalgia that comes first and the demogogs latch onto that feeling. And I fail to see how the The Critical Drinker would constitute a fascist demagogue although he is not wholesome in anyway.

It was just a vibe I got from like 5 minutes of video, but here's a comment from someone who has watched more of his stuff:

> Was a sub until recently, kind of got tired of his "woman or POC did bad thing in X" takes. Not a bad reviewer per se, just not for me anymore.

So, yeah.

Yes but my point isn't about this content in particular. My reply was a little facetious.

> Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days", 'kids today', 'civilization is doomed' content aimed at young males? Or is that just a natural cycle that repeats throughout history?

The Youtube algorithm only cares about you watching as many videos as possible. You are not watching it optimize for complex ideology like fascism but to the nostalgic feelings. It drives conspiracy rabbit holes like flat-earthers because the algorithm doesn't care that the earth is round it cares that you watch as many minutes as possible so they can continue presenting ads. If you are curious about Modern Monetary Theory it doesn't care that it recommends after a bunch of next videos an anti-semitic conspiracy theory about the Rotschild banker family a straight up neo-nazi. Just so they can keep you watching and getting ads along the line. And you can't teach the algorithm to avoid complex mechanism like how people succumb to conspiracies or fascism... and in some cases both...

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." -- Yoda

These are all 'natural things', doesn't mean we should rush to embrace them and the people who use them to manipulate us.

Do you know what fascist means? Or are we just going to use that word for everything that we find unappealing now?

Would love for you to define it, and explain how it applies to American nostalgia for older classic movies that are a foundation of our pop culture.

> The core mobilizing myth of fascism which conditions its ideology, propaganda, style of politics and actions is the vision of the nation's imminent rebirth from decadence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degenerate_art

Trying to spin people glorifying classic movies to be a form of Nazi degenerate art would've worked better (though I disagree with this even being remotely the same thing and view it as hyperbolic.) This still has nothing to do with fascism.

It is nostalgia for movie era that never really was. By cherry picking old movies and seeing in them what you want to see. Which is something different then trying to analyse actual past production as it actually was.

It is seeing decadence in contrast to past heavenly era, because you want it to be like that.

Okay, you can have a problem with people glorifying the old days. But that still has nothing to do with fascism. My above question has yet to be answered.

Your question is meaningless, because the comment you answered to did not claimed nostalgia is fascist.

He said, youtube algorithm is giving him vaguely fascist content.Bringing up "Birth of Nation" in literally second paragraph.

And I did not said anything about glorifying past, I said the narrative lies about the past.

> Your question is meaningless, because the comment you answered to did not claimed nostalgia is fascist.

In OP's post:

> Is the Youtube algorithm directing people to make vaguely fascist feeling, "bring back the good old days"

So yeah, no. The OP here used the word fascist in reference to the idea of "bring back the good old days".

In referencie to that and butcher of other things. So, no.

So my affinity and longing for simpler times with 8-bit computers can be used to manipulate me for someones ideological purposes? There is a huge gap between someone saying 'it used to be better' and the primrose path to embracing a fascists autocrat!

> hereditary rulers that are related to each other starting wars

Star Wars (New Hope) is nothing of the sort. The universe just got progressively smaller as they retconned every character into being related to every other character.

I meant that as general dig at "princesses" in film and history, not the specific weird Star Wars geneaology.

Star Wars is basically old War Movies, Flash Gordon serials and Errol Flynn swashbuckling movies spliced together, as such it draws on the long history of storytelling that, in turn reflecting their own 'good old days', often revolves around the beautiful and genetically superior children of heriditary dictators who murdererd their way into power and how they deserve to be the rightful ruler and basically owner of the populace.

This is not a good lesson and is exactly the kind of thing Terry Pratchett satirizes with Lance Constable Carrot Ironfoundersson in Discworld, or George RR Martin in Game of Thrones.

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